Thermometer



w. s. COLLENS I I THERMOMET ER April 13, 1937..

Filed Aug. 3. 1935 lllllllllllllllllllll lllllllll llll'lllllllllllllllllllllllllll s4 FIG. 2

WILLIAM S. (IQLLENs INVENTOR BY AT1.'ORNEY Patented Apr. 13, 1937 THERMOBIETER Wi l am. 1011mm. Br klyn, Y ssisn r ta 1 0., M 4,, Inc.,.'lew York H.731" .a corporation fNew Yo k j duaplicafionkuguet 1935, .Serial No. 34,505

" aclnms. ((21.73.1952).

The hiverationv relates. in general tcuan instrument for taking the, temperature, ofrany' exposed turfacatand which instruxnent'i-snparticnlarly d3? {Signed o use in taking the temperatur f a l p rso s-skin and is ome imes here aatte e.

ferred to, as a skin thermometer,

The prima y Qbiect. of the: my t qa is terror vide a simp ifi d term of. s rta e thermometer hr means of which. a. quick, .accurate reading; of the temperature .of a limited area ct thasurfdce can be obtained and at, the. same, time o minim z nverrors in. temperature rea i gs w ich. mi th r be imposed-by the heat. f om the endatoxs finge s. from the exterualair or item other contiguous heat sources or from pressure on the thermometer bulb which tends to. distort, the shape of the bulb and give an error-in reading.

Broadly the invention features a holder of heat insulating material in which the bulb endof an ordinary chemical orclinical thermometer is inserted and exposed fer-contactor near contact with the surface the temperature of which is desired. l 'I'hermometersas hereinbefore constructed es- 625 pecially when made of glass are quite fragile and are liable to. become damaged especially at the bulb end when this end is applied quickly to the surface under test or accidentally to any other object, The possibility of breaking the glass bulb end of the thermometer becomes even more prevalent when the bulb is pressed into engagement with the skin or other surface the temperature of which is desired asvis in applying the thermometer to a person's skin.

Accordingly another object of the invention is to provide a form of holder which will possess at least some slight degree of flexibility so as to conform itself to the surface area under treatment; to provide means for facilitating a gentle pressing of the exposed surface of the bulb into contact with the surface of the skin and otherwise to hold the bulb against movement relative to its holder and incidentally shield and protect the bulb as far as possible.

This aspect of the invention is provided by embedding the bulb of the thermometer so that the bulb will be snugly engaged by and thus protected by the flexible or semiflexible material of which the holder is composed and which holder will con- 5 tact the bulb on all sides thereof except the limited area side which is exposed for contact with the skin or other surface.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspec- 55 tion of the accompanying drawing and in part will be more fullyset forth in the following parfticulardescriptlon of one form of thermometer "embodying the invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter "set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan View looking down upon a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig; 21s a side view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the underside of the same;

Figs. 4 and 5. are each transverse sectional views taken respectively .on the lines 4-4 and 5- 5 0! Fig; 2.

In the drawing there is disclosed a holder 1-0 of a heat insulating moldable material such as a phenolcondensation product or rubber and into which holder is intruded the bulb H of aglass mercury thermometer of conventional design. In the illustratedform of the invention the bulb is of the long, relatively narrow, cylindrical type and the body portion I3 is provided with-a degree scale 14 magnified by the usual ridge construction 15 shown in Fig 5 common with chemical and clinical-thermometers.

In the preferred'form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, the holder comprises a long block-like bodylt provided on its upper side with a long integral handle or finger piece I! by means of which the instrument as a whole may be manipulated bythe operator when in use. The body 16 is provided with a bore l8 which opens at the end I9 and terminates in spaced relation to the opposite end 20 to form 2. protecting nose 2| to this end of the instrument. At the opposite end of the instrument the bore is outlined on its lower side by a projecting collar 22 which permits the device to be laid down on a support while elevating the bulb off the support. This collar also functions to provide maximum reinforcement to the constricted portion of the thermometer at the point where it is most liable to break when in use.

The portion of the bore l8 between the collar 22 and nose 2| is exposed through the lower side of the body and forms an elongated opening 23 shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In this way the lower semi-cylindrical side portion 24 of the bulb of the thermometer is exposed for direct engagement with the surface to be tested. The thermometer as a whole is so inserted in the holder that its scale faces upwardly, that is, in the direction opposite to the downwardly facing exposed side 24 of the thermometer bulb to permit an easy reading of the scale.

In operation, the operator grasps the body of the holder by means of the elongated projecting finger piece and gently presses the bulb end of the instrument into engagement with the surface area the temperature of which is desired. In other words, the thermometer is applied in position on the surface by a lateral movement. The glass bulb itself creates a slight depression in the skin so that the temperature is actually taken from a small shallow depressed area of the skin.

In this way the skin itself tends to pocket the heat receiving end of the instrument and tends to prevent the infiltration of heat from the ex:-

ternal air or from any other foreign heat sources. With more pronounced pressure exerted by the operator, the portion of the holder outlining the" bulb acts on the more or less flexibleholder to distort the same and thus insure a more accurate vfit between the instrument andthe area surrounding the region of the skin under-test. 'While a phenol condensation product has been suggested as the preferred material of which to form-the holder, it is suggested especially int-hose situaand are thus free from possibility of rust or con-- tamination when subjected to the sterilizing and cleansing processes to which clinical thermometers are usually subjected.' In the preferred form,no metal whatsoever is used.

While there have been shown, described and pointed out in the annexed claims, certain novel features of the invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled no in the art without departing from the-spirit of the invention.

I claim: I 1. An instrument for taking the temperature of an exposed surface, including a holder of insulating material comprising an elongated body provided on its upper side with an integral finger piece and provided with a longitudinally extending bore open at one end and terminating in spaced relation to the other end to form a protecting nose to that end of the instrument, said bore being exposed through the lower side of the body for a portion of its length, and a glass mercury thermometer having an elongated form of bulb fitted in said bore and at least partly exposed through the lower side of the body for contact with the surface the temperature of which is desired, and said thermometer including a portion ,.projecting. from the body and having the pro- 'je'cting portion provided with a scale with the scale facing upwardly whereby the scale can be Fread while. pressing down on the finger piece to bring thebulb into contact with said surface.

2. A device for obtaining the temperature of an exposedtsurface, including a' mercury thermometer'provided with a'bulb and a stem'having graduations on one side thereof, a holder of insulating material provided witha bore in which the bulb is snugly fitted and protected and from which holder bore the gr'ad'uated stem protrudes, said holder" bore-being provided with an openingon theside opposite the sideof the stem provided with the graduations, said opening exposing the the temperature of which is to be taken, said opening facing inonedirection and the graduations facing 'in theoppdsite direction, and the holder beingprovided on its lower side with a thermometer bulb for contact with the surface projecting collar at the'portion of the bore from which the .stem protrudes.

3. An instrument for taking the temperature of a surface, comprising a glass thermometer provided with a bulb, a holder of heat insulating WILLIAM s. COLLENS.

.40 material provided with a bore in which the bulb 

